[Genealogy] Stranded Widows, Process Tracking, Metes and Bounds, Self-Consulting
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Tue Sep 22 12:20:51 CDT 2026
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Genealogy Update 22 Sept 2026
**
** Intro Price on Using AI as a Genealogy Consultant--Consult Yourself
** New Release: Metes and Bounds with AI
** Recorded Webinars
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Stranded Widows
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This 1766 request was made by Mary Brown for her “third” in the estate of
her late husband, Amos [image: mary-brown]
<https://rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mary-brown.jpg>Brown.
Amos had left his wife several legacies in his 1766 will, but the amount
was less than her right of dower or one-third. Apparently sick in 1766,
Amos Brown of Stow, Massachusetts, wrote his will and a codicil in May of
1766 and was deceased by September 30 of that same year.
This post really isn’t about Amos Brown. It’s about Mary.
Mary is one of several ancestors who I “lose” after their husband dies.
That may partially be because my research on her is incomplete. It’s also
partially because I have not had much time to devote to Mary thus far and
the commonality of her name makes her somewhat more difficult to adequately
distinguish from other women of the same name.
It can be easy to “lose” female ancestors after their husbands simply
because there are fewer records on women. Sometimes we lose females because
they marry again after the death of a husband and we never bother to check
marriage records because we incorrectly assume they would not have
remarried. Often we lose these women because we fail to completely research
the entire family. There may be clues in later records of her children that
suggest a time frame in which she died.
Amos Brown was actually Mary’s second husband. Her first husband, Ephraim
Puffer, died at a relatively young age in Middlesex County, Massachusetts,
leaving Mary with several children. She is styled as Mary Brown in the will
of her father, Joseph Daby, who died in 1767 in Middlesex County. Daby also
mentions his Puffer grandchildren in his will and refers to their deceased
father by name. In this case, the will was my initial indication that
Joseph’s daughter Mary had married again.
Remarriage can be a reason why we fail to locate a tombstone for a female
ancestor if they are buried with a subsequent husband that is unknown to us.
One should never assume that a surviving spouse does not remarry.
Using AI as a Genealogy Consultant
*Our approach is to always use AI responsibly and practically a**s your own
genealogy consultant.*
Maybe you can’t afford a consultant for your own research or you have too
many genealogy problems to hire help with every one. AI can serve as your
own genealogy research consultant.
As with a human consultant, you’ll need to do the initial work on your
ancestor, gather what you have, and familiarize yourself with basic sources
in the area. There is no guarantee that AI will solve your problem.
But using AI as your personal research consultant can help. Not by doing
the research for you, or inventing ancestors that never existed, but by
doing what a good consultant actually does: looking at what you have,
summarizing it, discussing it, and giving you ideas on where to look next
or to help you see things in a different way. It may even tell you where
you need to go to improve your research skills.
After using AI, you still may decide to use a human consultant. The work
you did with AI will help you prepare to get the most from that advice from
a real person and to make the best use of your time and money should that
be necessary. We acknowledge in this presentation and approach that AI does
not know everything, is not perfect, and cannot solve every problem. It’s
just another tool.
You'll see how to frame a research problem so AI gives you something useful
instead of something vague. You'll learn to recognize when it's guessing,
because it will, and how to catch hallucinations and how to use AI in a
discerning fashion.
The goal isn't to replace your judgment. It's to give you a thinking
partner available at two in the morning when you finally realize you need
to get outside your own mind on a certain ancestral problem.
Pre-order the presentation now.
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3SJCPREXK5EUC>
Release date: 25 September
Price: $15.99
Includes the full presentation, a detailed handout, and a ready-to-use set
of prompts you can adapt to your own research problems.
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The Importance of Process Tracking
--------------------------------------
Solutions manuals to math text books have the answers and sometimes the
correct work to get that answer. That’s all fine and good if one has a
reasonable idea of what one is doing.
It is not so good when one is struggling with process and does not know
what to do when, does not know why certain processes are preferred over
others, and does not know what to do when things don’t work the way they
are supposed to. Neatly written up examples with the correct answer do not
explain insight nor do they show how the solver of the problem struggled
with wrong process and incorrect assumptions.
That’s when teachers, in one form or another, are helpful. That’s also
where it is helpful for the student to see not just the complete, neat, and
written-up answer, but also the process, the mistakes, and the reasons
behind what was done. They need to see the messy process that lead to the
answer–assuming that there is an answer.
The same is true in genealogical research.
I can read all the neatly written up case studies that I want. I can see
conclusions made clearly, logically, and concisely. But sometimes that
still does not tell me:
- how did you find that?
- how did you know to look for that?
- why did you try that first?
- what did you try that did not work?
Some case studies explain those things. Many do not. Those details are
frequently edited out in the interest of space and “staying on point.”
That’s a mistake for two reasons.
The first is that the reader benefits from seeing process written in a
clear and understanding way. The second is that readers who are analyzing
the argument made by the writer can better judge the writer’s research
process and methodology if they at least know how the writer looked for
things. This is especially true when databases and indexes are queried for
individuals. Did those searches cover all reasonable variants? Were all
reasonable locations checked for certain records and what were the records
that were searched? It is great to say one has found things and what those
things contain and to analyze that information, but
if the reader knows nothing about the search process, then the reader
cannot determine the perceived efficacy and exhaustiveness of that process.
Saying “Peter Bieger could not be located in the 1850 census” does not tell
me anything. How was that search conducted? Were database queries used and,
if so, what search terms were used? After all, I don’t know if the author
searched for Peter Bieger as that name exactly or if their search included
constructs that would locate spellings such as Peter Pickert unless they
tell me. Was a manual search of places where Peter Bieger is reasonably
believed to have lived conducted in addition to database queries?
Statements (particularly ones where something cannot be found) cannot be
evaluated without knowing something about the research process.
Researchers who have no intention of publishing need to track their own
process as well for two main reasons:
- it allows you later to re-evaluate your process and determine if that
process was flawed
- it allows you to conduct the search over to see if there were results
that you overlooked
Citations are important, but they get at what we’ve found and who created
it. Process gets at how we got to that information we needed to cite. And
that process matters as well.
*Metes and Bounds have you confused?*
*If you missed the early-bird price there's still time.*
-------------------------------------
Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis--
-------------------------------------
A completely new presentation!
and there's still time to get it at the introductory price
*Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis*
[image: image.png]
Do deeds with metes and bounds descriptions give you headaches? You are not
alone. We will see how to use AI to help with drawing properties, analyzing
deed transactions, noticing patterns, and more. Our presentation is
easy-to-follow, down-to-earth, and practical. This presentation is not
about how to find land records. We will assume you already know how to do
that.
[image: image.png]
Topics covered will include:
-
Using AI to work with metes and bounds descriptions.
-
Manual versus AI transcriptions
-
Fitting parcels together
-
Viewing acquisitions and sales over time
-
Creating ownership chronologies
Participants are encouraged to send Michael a limited number of questions
after they have viewed the presentation.
Available for immediate download. *Introductory price is $23.
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=251367&method_id=274508>*
Post-release price $27.00. Handout included which will include commentary
and prompts that were used. The presentation is approximately an hour long
and can be viewed more than once.. Order yours today
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WZ7W2VTNUFRM6>.
Don’t wait as we tend to forget.
About Michael:
Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy since the early
1980s. He has given genealogy lectures at a variety of national and small
conferences since the 1990s. Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics
and taught mathematics at a community college for thirty years. He has led
research trips to the FamilySearch Library for over twenty years.
-----------------------------
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--------------------
Webinars
--------------------
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-
Unburying Funeral Home Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/unburying-funeral-home-records/>
----------------------------------------
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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